Slimy Things...

I had a new food adventure today! I will give you some forewarning though... If you have a weak stomach and if descriptions of slimy things gross you out, you might want to skip this entry...

I think most of you already know this, but I work for a company that owns a line of seafood, called Coleson's Catch which is sold in military commissaries. About once a year we do an office order and we as employees get to order products for ourselves and friends and family. On this last order, there was some Squid/Calamari and Mussel Meat that was sent here to the office and it has been hanging out in the freezer for a couple months now. I know this is not true of everyone, but I think many people are probably like me and the word that comes to mind is "YUCK!" when they think of squid. And only a slightly less emphatic "yuck" when they think of Mussels.

Well... I like to experiment with food and I really enjoy cooking for other people, so a couple weeks ago, I got permission to buy a few ingredients and cook up some of this stuff for the office to try. It was sort of an experiment to see if I could make it taste good and today was the big day!

The part that had me nervous was cleaning the squid. The 1lb box comes as a solid, frozen block of about 30-40 small, whole squid. In order to make them edible, they must be thawed and separated and the head and inards must be pulled out, the skin removed, the spine pulled out and the remaining slimy goop on the inside of the body rinsed off. I had some concern that this would be all together too disgusting and I wouldn't be able to do it. But in the end, it really wasn't bad at all. I did NOT dissolve into a squeamish, squealing female puddle and I did NOT have to call in male reinforcements! I gutted those little squids all by myself. And for that, I am feeling rather proud of myself!

It took me about an hour to clean all 30 slimy, little squids and the rest of the prep was pretty easy. The Mussel Meat was no issue. I just thawed it out and tossed it right into the coconut curry broth. Nothing gross there. And, although I am surprised to say it, I actually really liked the Squid in the recipe below. It is possible that it only tasted good because the recipe paired it with bacon and fresh herbs and garlic. But I am now pretty much convinced that bacon can make ANYTHING taste good.

I am feeling fairly certain that no one who reads this blog will be running out to cook Calamari or Mussels anytime soon so I am actually not going to bother posting the recipes. Although if you would like them, please ask and I can send them right over. But for fun, here are a few pictures:

All Moved In!

Well, I am all moved in! Literally, all my boxes and "stuff" is IN the apartment, although it will not be all unpacked for a little while. Just getting me IN was no small feat!

Interesting side note... I just looked up the word "feat" in the dictionary to see if I was spelling it correctly. This is the Webster definition: "An achievement that requires great courage, skill or strength." This is actually a perfect description of my move! Although the great courage, skill & strength came more from a couple good friends and my dad, than from me. I spent most of Sunday in a state of fidgety, anxious hovering.

Saturday went great! It was designated as my "moving-boxes-and-painting-the-livingroom" day. Everything went smoother and quicker than I expected and I was thrilled with the way that the paint turned out. Sunday was my "move-the-furniture" day and it was much more difficult. Aside from the fact that it decided to rain/snow, my new apartment takes up the full 3rd floor of one of these old Victorian houses downtown. The stairway measures 28 inches across and had several tight turns! On paper and in theory, all of my furniture was supposed to fit. But when it came down to it, we had some issues.

Who were the heroes of the day? It was my dad (of course - he's always my hero!) and two friends, Tarah and Chris. These lovely ladies just happen to be black-belts in Tae Kwon Do. It would never have crossed my mind to recruit movers with skills in the martial arts, but they completely saved the day! First of all, the box spring for my bed wouldn't fit around a corner. They had tried every which way and we had come to the conclusion that I would have to go without it and trash the current one, since there was no where to store it. Normal people would come to such conclusions. But women with Tae Kwon Do skills apparently see options hidden to the rest of us common folk. Chris calmly asserted that she could break it in such a way that we could bend it around the corner. The box spring is made up of 2x4's!! What woman calmly announces that she can break a 2x4 and scoffs at me when I tell her not to hurt herself. Well, she totally did it! A few fancy kicks and she had broken my box spring in just the right places so that it bent beautifully around the corner and virtually sailed up the stairs into my bedroom. (I am exaggerating on that last part, of course. But it was just SO cool that it deserves a tiny bit of exaggeration!). And best yet, it still works quite well under my mattress. I haven't noticed a bit of difference.

Then later in the afternoon, I discovered that when my crew and I were painting the window sills on Saturday, we had accidentally painted the windows shut. I almost had a small meltdown here because I am already a bit nervous about roasting in the summer time on the 3rd floor of an old house without air conditioning. These ladies fixed this too! They just tapped around the edges of the window and then used brute strength to lift them up.

Totally incredible! I have a pictures of us with the box spring. It is to their credit that it won't look very broken in these pictures. She only broke the necessary part.







Anyway, that is that. I am feeling super cared for and watched over by the Lord! Other than a small hole in the wall from the leg of one of my couches (which my gracious land lord has already patched) and a nice bruise on my head where I zonked myself with a lamp, there was no damage or injuries and I am quite happily getting myself settled in my new nest.

Thanks to those of you who were praying for me this weekend. I have one more room to paint and a few things to hang on the walls and then I will post a little picture tour. The End.

Wild Rice w/ Chicken, Asparagus, Pecans & Maple Dijon Dressing

Whew!! It is a lot of work to pack everything you own into boxes and cart it from the basement of one house to the 3rd floor of another house across town! And I haven't even gotten past carrying it all out of the basement yet. I can't believe that in the not so distant past, I actually did this almost every 9 months for 6 years! It has been an incredible blessing to actually have stayed put in my current home for the last 3 years. Despite the fact that I am really excited about my new place (living alone, downtown, pretty street w/ great big trees, only 5 minutes from work, etc) I don't like moving and I feel some sadness over the ending this past season in this house. Tomorrow is the big day and about 20 minutes ago, after an hour of carrying boxes up the stairs, and loading up my car for the first trip tomorrow morning, I got overwhelmed and emotional and decided to be done for tonight. I am now cozy in my bed with a glass of red wine, trying to pull myself together.

And what better way to do that then to tell you about my lunch from this past week?

I know... I'm rather strange. But I really enjoy writing this blog and it will serve to get my mind off of the incredible pile of boxes at the top of my stairs that will be making a trip across town tomorrow with my furniture following close behind.

A few weeks ago, I got to have lunch and visit with my good friend, Kate. Along with being just a beautiful, kind, Godly woman, she is one of the best cooks that I know! For lunch she made us a salad of sorts with wild rice, chicken, asparagus and pecans and this really yummy dressing that you drizzle over the top. Of course, I needed the recipe and I whipped up a batch and ate it for my lunches this past week. In addition to being really delicious, a dish like this is healthy and covers all your food groups (starch, veggie, protein) in one dish.

Hope you enjoy it!

Wild Rice w/ Chicken, Asparagus, Pecans & Maple Dijon Dressing

(Kate, is there an "official" name to this dish? I just called it by all the main ingredients, but it feels really long!)

1 cup uncooked wild rice (prepared according to package directions)
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces & parboiled (meaning you put them into boiling water for about 3 minutes and then transfer them directly to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process)
2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked to your preference: grilled, roasted, baked, etc)
pecans (raw or toasted)

Dressing:
3 T apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pepper
1 T dijon mustard
1/3 c pure maple syrup
1/2 c. olive oil
about 1/3 cup diced onion (you can use more or less to taste)

- I was up at my parents' house last weekend and had my dad cook my chicken breasts on his smoker, which was wonderful. Kate told me that she sometimes marinates them in some lemon juice and olive oil. But plain, cooked chicken would be good as well!
- Toss the cooked rice, asparagus & chicken together. Add nuts right before serving.
- Mix dressing ingredients in a jar and give it a good shake.
- Drizzle dressing over rice right before serving. If you add it all at once, the rice will soak it up and you will lose the flavor. So i just kept it in a jar and added some each time I ate the meal.



* By the way, Kate is also BRILLIANT with sewing and card-making and all things crafty and she recently started her own Etsy store. If you have any interest in looking at the stuff she makes, you can view it at: www.ohwrite.etsy.com

Scrumptious...

Need I say more?



(P.S. By the way, since a few of you have asked me... Yes, I did buy him this shirt. But in my defense, I knew that deep down in his little baby heart, it was truly how he felt so I was just helping him give expression to his thoughts while he is still pre-verbal.)

Easy, Fresh, Fruit Tart

If you haven't already picked up on this by now, I should probably tell you that I am an extremely tactile person! I get a ridiculous amount of enjoyment from things that look pretty, feel soft, smell good, etc. As a kid, I used to like to walk barefoot in the garden after I watered it because I liked the feel of mud squishing between my toes! My mom once scolded me soundly when she found a collection of crayon shavings hidden in my closet. I had been keeping them because I thought all the colors looked pretty. My little cutie-pie niece seems to be similar to her (adoring) Auntie in this. Last Christmas the ladies in my family (big and little) did a little after-Christmas shopping. We were standing in line at a store that had some CDs by the cash register. I was watching Bekah touch the shiny plastic with her fingers and filling up with wonder over the way little kids are so sensory when she then picked up the CD and started rubbing it on her cheek. That made me laugh out loud. I knew exactly what she was doing! I have done the same thing on many occasions. If something feels soft or interesting under your fingers, it will feel 10 times more so if you rub it against your cheek!

Anyway, I digress...

I made a dessert this morning for a work party that made my sensory receptors buzz and sing for joy: Looks colorful & pretty, feels nice in my mouth and tastes completely YUMMY! It is a recipe for a fruit tart that my mom found years ago. I have requested it for my birthday dessert for several years in a row now. My family is pretty healthy and we typically eat normal serving sizes. However, I will confess that just my mom and dad and I will often eat this entire dessert in one day!

Here you go:

Easy, Fresh, Fruit Tart

Heat oven to 375 degrees

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup softened (almost melted) butter
1 egg

1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
dash of almond extract
¾ cup whipping cream (or 1/2 carton of Cool Whip)

Assorted fresh fruits
½ cup apple jelly, melted

- Grease cookie sheet; dust with baking mix.
- Mix baking mix and 1/3 cup sugar.
- Mix in softened butter until crumbly
- Mix in egg until dough forms.
- Pat dough into 12x10” rectangle on cookie sheet (Dough will stick to fingers; keep either flour handy to coat fingers or shortening to keep fingers greasy.)
- Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Cool completely.
- Beat cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and the vanilla in small bowl on low speed until smooth.
- Beat in whipping cream on medium speed until stiff peaks form. If you use Cool Whip, then just fold in 1/2 carton.
- Spread over crust to within ¼” of rim.
- Arrange fruits decoratively on top
- Brush with melted jelly.
- Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Yields: 8-10 servings (unless you are a member of the Dieter family. Then it is closer to 6!)







I made this dessert the normal way since it was for co-workers, however, it adjusts beautifully for someone with dietary issues. A brand called Pamela's makes a awesome gluten-free baking mix that can take the place of Bisquick and Tofuti makes a really good dairy-free cream cheese. The result is almost indistinguishable from the original.

Happy Monday to you!!